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Truth Hurts: Only If You Know It

The attached link from the new HBO show The Newsroom provides a compelling and painfully honest opinion on the state of our nation. The protagonist is angry and hurt, ashamed even, at how far we have fallen. His frustration with the lack of awareness among his young listeners and others is palpable. The Rising Above the Gathering Storm report (2007), the 2008 USDOE update on the 1983 A Nation at Risk report, much of what Thomas L. Friedman writes about and countless other reports with which too few are familiar, highlight our declining status in contrast with the rest of the world. The reality of the poor quality of our education system- in part due to less than adequate preparation of teachers, budget cuts, and a dysfunctional social support system- leads to poor health choices and outcomes, less than optimum preparation for and participation in a productive workforce, and the reality of our national decline.
Some might respond with a smirk and a this is a TV show remark. Until we face the facts the protagonist is highlighting. . .and make major improvements in social, educational, and political systems and services, the national decline will continue.
Truth hurts, but only if you know it.
There is cursing in the clip. I don’t wish to offend anyone so please take note of the caution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIffq85zMI4&feature=related
Your thoughts?

2 thoughts on “Truth Hurts: Only If You Know It”

Nice. agree, except for the rose-colored perception of what & how we “used to be”. i can’t quite understand what time in our history he’s talking about. i think we thrived in the past because we’re such a young country there was little else to do but succeed. but i can’t think of anything going on in our country today that isn’t a repeat of something that’s already happened. “we waged war on poverty, no poor people” – ok, maybe, unless the poor people were black, i’m pretty sure we’ve waged war on that group of people for ages, and recently added gays & immigrants to that for kicks. and how did that war on poverty turn out? tax law no one can understand, inflation no one can afford…

I peeped this Monday night and was hooked. Great show. Hopefully this will get me through until Game of Thrones comes back on. If you have HBO its on OnDemand or catch it on one of the HBO channels at night.

As for thoughts, I still think we are the greatest country in the world but somewhere in the last 20 years we lost our moral fiber. Instead of morals, values and doing whats right it has become the dollar bill. Hopefully as a collective we can get that back.